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COTABATO, Philippines: Philippine Muslim rebels on Wednesday angrily rejected accusations they were behind the abduction of an elderly Irish priest and threatened to stop helping in the search for him.
Mohagher Iqbal of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said accusations made by Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno over the kidnapping of Father Michael Sinnott, 79, were unacceptable and crushed goodwill established ahead of planned peace talks with the government.
"We are now reaching to our counterparts in the government to stop all these accusations," Iqbal, the chief MILF peace negotiator, told reporters. "If Puno does not stop, we are considering stopping our help to the rescue effort."
On Tuesday, officials said intelligence reports pointed to MILF elements as being behind the October 11 kidnapping of Sinnott, a Roman Catholic missionary based in the southern city of Pagadian.
Puno charged that an MILF unit, called the 113th base command led by a Commander Al Asree, was behind the abduction, the latest in a long list targeting foreign missionaries in recent years.
In a video released by the kidnappers last weekend, the priest relayed a two-million-dollar ransom demand, which the authorities and his order both promptly rejected.
Iqbal admitted the existence of the commander and the rebel unit, but said "he is the one that the MILF assigned to work to free Father Sinnott so they are destroying the credibility of our commander on the ground".
Iqbal said the allegations would affect efforts to revive the peace talks.
Sinnott, who has a history of heart problems, was kidnapped at the Society of Saint Columban mission house in Pagadian city on the strife-torn southern island of Mindanao.
Government officials had earlier said that efforts to revive peace talks with the MILF could be affected by the allegations that MILF members were involved in the abduction.
The negotiations stalled last year, when two MILF commanders broke a five-year-old ceasefire and launched large-scale attacks across Mindanao, but both sides have since agreed to resume them this year.
- AFP/so
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